How To Get A Six Pack.

Here is an article from my new blog (in my sig):

Ahh? the coveted "six pack". Sought after by millions across the country, six pack abs are a symbol of fitness that many people desire. They are also just downright sexy. There are many myths surrounding obtaining the elusive six-pack. Here I am going to break down myth from fact and tell you exactly what you need to do to get that six pack you?re looking for - and in good time.

Myth - spot reducing

One of the biggest myths that circulates around gyms is the myth of spot reducing. This is the one that says doing hundreds of crunches will "burn away fat" on your stomach, making the abdominal muscles visible.

First of all, your body is not capable of losing fat from one area or another. When you lose fat, it happens when your body removes fat (from all areas of the body at once) and uses it for energy, much like if you ate a sandwich. If anything, the illusion created by doing hundreds of crunches is that the abdominal muscles will be "pumped" - that is the hundreds of reps will force blood to surge into the muscles, causing them to appear bigger and harder, seemingly "poking through" your stomach fat.

The truth is, everyone has a six-pack, it is just usually hidden under a layer of body fat on the stomach. How then, do you get rid of this bodyfat?

1. Start drinking more water
Not only is water essential for your body to optimally burn fat, it can also help your body burn more calories. Every 8 oz. glass of ice-cold water you drink burns around 30 calories. Also, drinking more water will help you feel healthier by eliminating headaches created by dehydration. Your skin will also look a lot more healthy and clear with increased water intake.

2. Cut out simple sugars
If you can't cut out simple sugars, you are going to have a very hard time getting a six-pack. The key to fat-loss is controlling insulin. Insulin is a storage hormone responsible for storing nutrients in fat cells. Eating a meal high in simple carbs (like sugar) causes your body to release a lot of insulin, spiking the levels of insulin in your blood stream.

Many people eat three meals a day, filled with simple sugars and carbs. These three meals result in three large insulin spikes throughout the day, resulting in the majority of those nutrients being stored as fat. Cutting simple sugars out of your diet and replacing them with more complex carbohydrates will make the amount of insulin released by your body smaller, resulting in less fat storage. The other thing about insulin spikes is that they stop fat loss dead in it's tracks. This is why we need to keep insulin to a minimum when trying to get a six pack. Here is a list of foods to avoid, and good foods that you could replace them with:

3. Eat 4-6 small meals per day
The idea behind eating 4-6 small meals per day instead of the traditional breakfast, lunch, and dinner?is all about insulin control. As we discussed earlier, insulin control is vital to fat loss. Three big insulin spikes throughout the day is very detrimental to fat loss. Eating four to six small meals creates four to six small insulin releases and keeps fat storage to a minimum.

Eating many small meals also keeps your bodys fat burning engines churning. When you eat a meal, your body generates energy to try to digest it. This is called the theromogenic effect of food. Think of eating a meal like a workout. Eating three meals makes your body work hard to digest a big meal three times per day, and is not optimal for keeping this engine revving at full speed. However, if you eat four to six times a day (every 3-4 hours), your body will keep revving at full speed and the maximum amount of energy will be expended to digest the food (more energy expended = more fat burned).

4. Start lifting weights
The more muscle your body has, the higher the capacity it has to burn fat. Also, the more muscle mass you add to your body, the less fat you have to lose to see your six pack. For example, say a 200-lb man has 10% bodyfat. This means that he has 180lbs of lean mass and 20lbs of fat. If the man adds 20 lbs of lean muscle, he now weighs 220lbs, but still has 20 lbs of fat. 20/220 X 100% = 9.09% bodyfat. Without losing any actual fat, the man brought his body fat percentage down one percentage, which can mean the difference between visible abs or not. You should use compound, multi-joint exercises such as squats, deadlifts, dips, chin/pull-ups, overhead presses, bench presses, heavy barbell curls, and dips as the core of your regimen.

5. Eat more protein
Just like eating multiple meals, eating more protein has a thermogenic effect- it is harder for your body to break down so it takes energy. Protein also spares muscle tissue when you are losing fat. This is essential because while we want to burn calories, we want to make sure the calories that we burn are from fat and not from precious muscle tissue. Try to eat lean sources of protein such as chicken and turkey breast, egg whites, and fresh fish. (Tuna is awesome too by the way). You should shoot for 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight every day. So if you weigh 150 lbs, you should eat 150 grams of protein per day. Spread out over 6 meals per day that is roughly 30 grams of protein per meal. You would cover this with a good sized chicken breast and a helping of rice. Another favorite of mine is the classic tuna salad sandwich on whole-wheat bread.

Stay tuned for example meal plans so you know EXACTLY what to do!

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Good thread sir. I am curious as to why you didn't put anything about calorie depletion to cut fat though? Still..repped

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*"We make men without chests and expect of them virtue and enterprise. We laugh at honor and are shocked to find traitors in our midst. We castrate and then bid the geldings to be fruitful."
-C.S. Lewis

"It's easy to hit the gym everybody but true dedication to fitness is a war won in the kitchen." - Tone4Now

multi-joint exercises can I get more info on what exercises work more then 1 muscle? Also how you know how much is a small meal? like a 6inch subway sandwich. Would that be considered a small meal? Or a side of rice? I'd really like some info on this. As I usally eat 3 meals and 2 snacks along with 3 protein shakes a day usally. Is this good or bad?

The sweet taste of nonnutritive sweeteners has been reported to increase hunger and food intake through the mechanism of cephalic-phase insulin release (CPIR). We investigated the effect of oral sensation of sweetness on CPIR and other indexes associated with glucose metabolism using nutritive and nonnutritive sweetened tablets as stimuli. At lunchtime, 12 normal-weight men sucked for 5 min a sucrose, an aspartame-polydextrose, or an unsweetened polydextrose tablet (3 g) with no added flavor. The three stimuli were administered in a counterbalanced order, each on a separate day at 1-wk intervals. Blood was drawn continuously for 45 min before and 25 min after the beginning of sucking and samples were collected at 1-min intervals. Spontaneous oscillations in glucose, insulin, and glucagon concentrations were assessed as were increments (slopes) of fatty acid concentrations during the baseline period. The nature of the baseline (oscillations: glucose, insulin, and glucagon; and slopes: fatty acids) was taken into account in the analyses of postexposure events. No CPIR and no significant effect on plasma glucagon or fatty acid concentrations were observed after the three stimuli. However, there was a significant decrease in plasma glucose and insulin after all three stimuli. Only the consumption of the sucrose tablet was followed by a postabsorptive increase in plasma glucose and insulin concentrations starting 17 and 19 min, respectively, after the beginning of sucking. In conclusion, this study suggested that oral stimulation provided by sweet nonflavored tablets is not sufficient for inducing CPIR.

PreMedline Identifier: 9062523

So, aspartame, at least, does not seem to be a problem in terms of stimulating insulin release.

Last edited by dirkwright; 03-16-2009 at 07:25 AM.

Bodybuilders are the only people I know who will consume the worst tasting stuff because they know "it's good for them"...

The "eat more protein" part is STRONG bro science. Seems like its jumping on board with the Atkins theory on protein use, which is GARBAGE IMO... that "extra work" is actually your body straining its kidneys...

Most of that "article" looks like bro science to me. Don't eat white bread or white rice? Come on man. It's all calories in vs calories out. It is that simple why are you trying to make it difficult. If your body burns 3000cals a day including the excersices you do then drop 500 cals and you will lose weight.

Lift heavy always whether cutting or bulking to preserve muscle. The whole high reps low weight for cutting is bull****. Eat 500 cals under maintenance and do cardio and you will lose body fat...

Gotta disagree with the recommendation of Splenda. It's without a doubt a manmade desecration and I haven't seen anything that yields to the fact that your body efficiently breaks it down. Most evidence yields otherwise and the track record with other artificial sweetners certainly doesn't put odds in its favor. Obviously spiking your insulin levels has inherent health complications, but stevia or an alternative is certainly a better alternative.

your insulin response can be your best friend...sometimes. it's best to stimulate insulin response with your post-workout meal, since your body will receive the energy it requires much faster. moderation is key...

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